A guide to Switzerland’s Company Register (2026 Update)

Several commercial portals charge up to €295 for Swiss company documents that are available from the official register for free.

This guide explains what data is available, where to find it, how to search the Swiss company register, and upcoming reforms.

Executive Summary: Switzerland’s Company Register (2026 Update)

• Switzerland maintains a decentralised commercial register system where the 26 cantons hold the underlying filings. At the same time, the federal Zefix portal (operated by the Federal Office of Justice) provides free centralised access to key company data.
• Basic information, including company name, UID, legal form, address, officers, auditors, purpose clause, and historical SOGC (SHAB/FOSC) publications, is publicly available at no cost via Zefix, with free articles of association and register extracts obtainable through links to the relevant cantonal register.
• For GmbH/Sàrl entities, shareholder (member) lists are public; AG structures do not disclose shareholders. No public beneficial ownership (UBO) register currently exists.
• A new Legal Entities Transparency Act (LETRA), adopted by Parliament in September 2025, will introduce a central non-public Transparency Register holding UBO details (name, date of birth, nationality, address, and control extent). It is expected to enter into force around mid-2026 and will be accessible only to designated Swiss authorities and regulated financial intermediaries; public access was explicitly rejected.
• The register relies on notary involvement for incorporation but has limited automated verification and no unique identifiers for natural persons, which can constrain due diligence on complex structures.
• Zefix requires no account for searches, and a free RESTful API is available upon request. Several commercial portals charge high fees (up to €295) for documents that are free officially on zefix.ch and the cantonal sites.
• Ongoing reforms include LETRA implementation, Business Enterprise Register (BER) modernisation, and slower commercial register IT upgrades extending into the late 2020s/2030.
• This framework provides good transparency into basic and shareholder data for certain entity types, while prioritising privacy for ultimate beneficial ownership.
• This summary captures the core value, free access points, limitations, and key 2026 changes, allowing readers to grasp the essentials before diving into the full details below.

DETAILED GUIDE

What Is the Swiss Company Register?

1. The official central search portal is the Central Business Names Index, known as Zefix, operated by the Federal Office of Justice.
1. It aggregates data from all 26 cantonal registers. 
2. Basically, the cantons hold the underlying filings;
3. Zefix surfaces them in one place.
2. A separate Transparency Register is expected to come into force around mid-2026 under the Legal Entities Transparency Act (LETRA).
1. It will hold UBO data, but it won't be publicly accessible.

What Data Is Available?

3. The Kyckr team accessed Zefix on March 27, 2026. This is the data we were able to collect:
1. Basic (free, public): company name, UID, CH-ID, FCRO-ID, legal form, registered seat, canton, status, address, former names, branches, and purpose clause.
2. Officers: executives, directors, and authorised signatories, with the scope of their signing authority.
3. Auditors: the appointed statutory auditor, where one exists.
4. Ownership (GmbH/Sàrl only): the member list is filed with the cantonal register and is public. It shows the shareholders' names and share amounts. For AG (public limited company) structures, shareholder data is not disclosed.
5. Documents (free): the articles of association and the register extract are both available free of charge from the cantonal register. They contain shareholder data for GmbH/Sàrl entities.
6. SOGC publications (free): every register “mutation”, including officer changes, address changes, capital changes, mergers, and liquidations, published as PDFs in the language of filing. 

Which Entities Must Register?

4. AG (Aktiengesellschaft): Swiss public limited company. Officers and capital are registered. Shareholders are not publicly disclosed.
5. GmbH (Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung): Swiss limited liability company. The member list is filed and public. This is the main source of shareholder data in the Swiss register.
6. Partnerships (KmAG, SNC, SC): limited and general partnerships must register. Disclosure requirements vary by form.
7. Foreign branch offices: branches of foreign entities with a Swiss nexus must register in the relevant cantonal register.
8. Foundations and associations fall outside the LETRA Transparency Register but have separate registration obligations.

How to Search for Swiss Companies

9. No account is needed to search Zefix.
1. Go to the Website.
1. Go to www.zefix.ch This is the official portal. Several commercial sites mimic its appearance and charge for documents that are free on the official register. Avoid them.
2. Select your language: English, German, French, or Italian. 
3. Search for a Company.
1. Search by company name or SOGC publication reference. Advanced search covers UID, seat, canton, and legal form. You can include deleted entities, former names, and use phonetic search.
2. As you type, matching entities appear in a dropdown. Select one for the full profile.
4. Select Entity.
1. The profile shows name, address, legal form, seat, status, UID, CH-ID, FCRO-ID, auditors, purpose, former names, branches, and all SOGC “mutations”.
2. For documents (articles of association, register extract), follow the link from the Zefix profile to the cantonal register. Both are free.
2. Available Documents
1. Articles of association (free): filed at the cantonal level. Contains the company's purpose, capital structure, and, for GmbH/Sàrl entities, member information.
2. Register extract (free): the official summary of registered data. However, a certified extract, which is legally binding, incurs a fee.
3. SOGC mutation publications (free): all historical register changes, available as PDFs through Zefix.
10. What About Canton Registries?
1. The canton registries provide more information but have different pricing plans and coverage.
11. Here are three:
1. Zug’s Handelsregister:
1. Only available in German.
2. Statutes and foundation documents are available as a free download. Financial documents aren’t available. Many documents are public but must be viewed in person.
2. Zurich’s Handelsregister:
1. Only available in German.
2. Publishes open data on deletions (including ex officio), which have been increasing since 2018. You can download “minutes, commercial register applications, articles of association, or public deeds” and uncertified extracts for free. Certified extracts are 50 francs, while certified statutes are 40 francs (not including postage).
3. Geneva’s Registre du Commerce:
1. Available in French.
2. You can download statutes and excerpts for free. Statutes and extracts cost 120 Swiss francs each, while extracts cost 80 Swiss francs each. For other company documents, you must visit the register’s office in person and pay 50 Swiss francs.
12. APIs and Open Data
1. Zefix also refers to the federal RESTful API, available through Open Data Swiss. It covers the full company register and daily SOGC publications. It's free.
2. Access requires a registered account. Request one by emailing zefix@bj.admin.ch.
3. There's no published restriction on who qualifies; developers, legal professionals, businesses, and researchers can all apply. 
13. What Is SOGC?
1. The Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce (SOGC) – also known in German as SHAB and in French as FOSC – is where corporate changes are recorded and published in gazette form.
14. Why use it?
1. SOGC shows a company’s changes over time.
2. Using the Swiss translation parlance, it shows the real-time “mutations” of a legal entity. Moreover, unlike Zefix extracts, SOGC documents are legally binding.
15. Is the Swiss Company Registry Reliable?
1. Use of Notaries
1. To incorporate in Switzerland, individuals must use public notaries to verify their identity, unlike in Britain and the US. This ensures a basic layer of manual verification.
2. Lack of Verification
1. Unlike other major markets – Britain, Singapore, Australia – the Swiss company registries don’t cross-reference corporate submissions against national databases.
2. No Unique Identifiers for Natural Persons
3. The Swiss authorities don’t mandate the use of unique identifiers for natural persons – only legal entities, using the Unique Enterprise Identification Number (UEI). This makes it harder to verify individual identities.
4. The cantons of Switzerland aren’t the most active enforcers of compliance. This means relying solely on Swiss company data to verify businesses with complex corporate structures isn’t sufficient.
16. Reforms (2026 Update)
1. Legal Entities Transparency Act (LETRA)
1. The Swiss Parliament adopted LETRA on 26 September 2025. Entry into force is expected around mid-2026. It creates a central Transparency Register holding UBO data: name, date of birth, nationality, residential address, and the nature and extent of control.
2. Access: Restricted to Swiss authorities (criminal prosecutors, tax authorities, SECO, MROS, intelligence services) and Swiss-regulated financial intermediaries. Public access was explicitly rejected. Foreign compliance teams with no Swiss presence have no direct right of access.
3. Switzerland has rejected the EU model of public UBO access, partly in response to the 2022 CJEU ruling that public beneficial ownership registers breach fundamental privacy rights.
2. Business Enterprise Register (BER) modernisation
1. The Federal Statistical Office is rebuilding the BER around a single platform, integrating the UID register, SBER, and BurWeb. New web and API portals are planned.
2. The project runs into the late 2020s.
3. Commercial register IT modernisation
1. The Federal Audit Office has audited the digital transformation project for the commercial register and criticised the lack of concrete progress. The Federal Commercial Registry Office is working through its options.
2. The timeline runs roughly to 2030.
17. Using Swiss Company Data at Scale
1. Zefix gives you free access to Swiss company data. Still, retrieval is manual, documents are held at the cantonal level, and the free API requires a registered account and technical integration. 

Frequently Asked Questions

18. Is the Swiss commercial register free?
1. Yes. Searching Zefix and downloading documents from the official cantonal registers costs nothing. Some commercial portals charge for the same documents. They're not required; the official register provides them for free.
19. What is Zefix?
1. Zefix is the Central Business Names Index, the federal portal aggregating data from all 26 Swiss cantonal commercial registers.
2. The Federal Office of Justice runs it and is the official starting point for Swiss company searches.
20. What's the difference between Zefix and the cantonal registers?
1. Zefix is the central index. It shows company profiles and SOGC publications.
2. The cantonal registers hold the underlying filings, including articles of association and the register extract. You reach them via a link on each Zefix profile.
21. Who can access the Swiss Transparency Register?
1. Once LETRA is in force (expected mid-2026), access will be limited to designated Swiss authorities and Swiss-regulated financial intermediaries.
2. It won't be publicly accessible. Foreign compliance teams without a Swiss presence do not have direct access rights.
22. What documents can I get from the Swiss commercial register?
1. The articles of association and the register extract are both free from the cantonal register.
2. SOGC mutation publications are available as PDFs through Zefix. For AG structures, shareholder-level documents are not part of the public filing set.
23. Does Switzerland offer an API for the commercial register?
1. Yes. The Zefix RESTful API is available through Open Data Swiss and is free. You'll need a registered account.
2. Please request one by emailing zefix@bj.admin.ch.     
24. How reliable is beneficial ownership data in Switzerland?
1. For GmbH/Sàrl entities, the member list is public and reflects registered shareholders.
2. For AG structures, no shareholder data is disclosed publicly. Neither constitutes a verified UBO register.
3. The incoming Transparency Register will hold UBO data, but its contents will be restricted to Swiss authorities and regulated intermediaries.

Source

30 March 2026 - https://www.kyckr.com/blog/swiss-company-registry